Corn-husker



No. 750,426. PATENTED JAN. 26, 1904. G. G. BILLINGS. CORN HUSKBR.

APPLICATION FILED D30. 15, 1902.

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No. 750,426. PATENTED JAN. 26, 1904. O. G. BILLINGS.

CORN HUSKER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 15, 1902.

NO MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented January 26, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

CORN-HUSKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 750,426, dated January26, 1904.

Application filed December 15, 1902. Serial No. 135,211. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES G. BILLINGS, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Eau (nralle, in the county ofDunn and State of Nisconsin, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Corn Huskers; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention has for its especial object to improve the construction ofcorn-huskers; and to this end it consists of the novel devices andcombinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In corn-huskers as heretofore designed a great deal of trouble has beencaused by the frequent clogging of the husking-rollers. This clogging ofthe husking-rollers has usually been caused by ears of corn or portionsthereof being caught endwise and wedged between the rollers in suchmanner that the bushingpegs could not act thereon, and as a consequencethe said bushing-rollers were forced apart and rendered inoperative, sothat the heads of corn passed over the same without being husked." Ahead of corn or a cob or any other article caught between thehuskingrollers as above noted would remain there indefinitely unlessremoved by force, and it has been frequently found a diflicult matter toremove such articles from between the huskingrollers'both because theyare hard to get at and because they are wedged between the rollers withgreat pressure.

As one of the principal and very important features of my presentinvention I provide one or more, preferably both, of each pair ofcooperating husking-rollers with a spiral peripheral groove, which whenan ear of corn, a cob, or other article is caught between the rollerswill positively carry the same toward the delivery end of the rollers.The cooperating rollers, as is well known, rotate in opposite directionsand their upper surfaces move toward each other. Hence one of therollers should be provided with a right and the other with a lefttraversing spiral groove or thread, so that the grooves of both rollerswill cooperate to work the article wedged between them in the samedirectionto wit, toward the delivery ends of said roller. Theseperipheral threads or spiral grooves also have a feeding action on theears which are prop-, erly delivered to the husking-rollers to belocated more nearly in a horizontal plane. In some cases they might evenbe horizontally disposed in view of the even and positive feedingactions of the spiral grooves on the heads of corn. Furthermore, thespiral grooves render the rollers self-cleaning in their action bycontinually feeding to the delivery ends thereof all dirt, leaves, orother materials which come in contact therewith.

The above features of construction may also be applied to thesnapping-rollers or to other class of rollers; but in my presentapplication it has a special reference to the basking-rollers.

The invention also involves other features of construction, which willhereinafter appear in the following detail description and in the claim.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure l is a view in side elevation with some parts broken away andsome parts shown in section, showing a corn-husker involving the severalfeatures of my invention. Fig. 2 is a substantially horizontal sectiontaken ap-' proximately on the line {0 r of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is atransverse vertical section on the line 11" 7113 of Fig. 2. Fig. i is aplan view showing the delivery ends of a pair of husking-rollersprovided in accordance with my invention with cooperating spiralperipheral grooves, and Fig. 5 is a detail in vertical section on theline (/0 n of Fig. 2.

The numeral 1 indicates as an entirety the frame or case of the machine.

The numeral 2 indicates the husking-rollers, the numeral 3 thesnapping-rollers, the numeral 4 the endless feedtable,-the numeral 5 theshredder-shaft, and the numeral 6 the dividers of a combined husker andshredder, which parts, except as hereinafter noted, are of the ordinaryconstruction.

The shafts 7 of the husking rollers are mounted at their upper ends inbearings 8, supported by and mounted to slide on atranscerned.

As already stated in the introductory part of this description, thehusking-rollers are formed with spiral peripheral grooves. These,

grooves 2 are shown in several of the views, but are best illustrated inFig. 4, by reference to which it will be seen that the grooves on one ofthe rollers is a right-hand thread, while that of the cooperating rolleris a left-hand thread. I find the best results are obtained by makingthe said threads or grooves rectangular in cross-section, as shown inthe said drawings. The husking-rollers are further provided with huskingpegs 2 preferably having squared heads, as best shown in Fig. 4. Toafford clearance for the pegs 2 the rollers are provided with peripheraldepressions 2 as also best shown in Fig. 4E.

The husking-rollers on one side of the transfer center of the machineare geared together and those on the other side are geared together,this being preferably accomplished in the usual way by intermissionspur-pinions 12, secured to the extreme lower ends of the roller-shafts7. One of the shafts 7 of each series carries a doubled gear 13 at itsextreme lower end. The two beveled gears 13 mesh with beveled pinions14, carried by a transverse countershaft 15, mounted in bearing-brackets16, secured on the sides of the machine-form 1. At one end the shaft 15carries a pulley 17, and near its other end it is provided with abeveledpinion 18. A transmission-belt 19 runs over the pulley 17 and over apulley 20, carried by the shredder-shaft 5. The shreddershaft 5 beingdriven in the customary way, motion is transmitted to thehusking-rollers through the driving connections 11 and 12.

The numerals 21 and 22 indicate a pair of counter-shafts, which aremounted on suitable bearings 23 and 24: on the sides of the machineframeand extend substantially parallel to the husking-rollers andsubstantially in the same plane therewith. The counter-shaft 22 isprovided with a beveled pinion 25, which meshes with the pinion 18 ofthe counter-shaft 15. The counter-shafts 21 and 22 are provided withlaterally-spaced pairs of sprockets 26, over which runs a widesprocket-chain of the type usually termed a ladder chain. The upperportion of this chain or endless belt 27 runs in a plane slightly lowerthan the upper surfaces of the husking-roller and just outward of thedelivery ends thereof, so as to receive the husked cars from saidrollers. The upper portion of the said conveying belt or chain 27 runsover a transversely-extended shelf or deck 28, shown as supported by thedepending portion of a box-like housing or gear-cover 29. The saiddepending portion of the housing 29 serves as a stop to hold the huskedears upon the shelf 28 while subject to the conveying belt or chain 27.The said conveying belt or chain, of course, delivers the husked ears atone side of the machine.

Hitherto imperforate belts or conveyers have been used to perform thefunction of the open conveying belt or chain 27; but great annoyance andtrouble has been caused by the accumulation of dirt, snow, husks, chaff,and other material on the lower 01' returning portion of such conveyers.Such accumulations heave hitherto frequently caused the clogging up ofthe machine, so as to interrupt its operation. In fact, such deviceshave usually been found to be inoperative when snow has been depositedthereon. With my open belt or ladder-like conveying-chain such depositscannot accumulate on the lower or returning portion thereof, and forsuch reasons the device has been found operative under all conditions ofthe weather and under all conditions of the corn.

Returning now to the action of the huskingrollers, it is evident thatshould an unhusked ear of corn be caught endwise and wedged between acooperating pair of rollers the spiral grooves acting thereon will causethe same to begin immediately to travel toward the delivery ends of suchrollers, and as the ear thus caught is caused to travel onward its huskswill be ripped ofi by thehusking-pegs, so that by the time it isdischarged it will be husked. In fact, I have found that in practice itusually happens that an ear thus caught and acted upon 'will be arightedor turned down approximately parallel with the rollers before it reachesthe delivery .ends of the rollers. If, however, the ear is not thusarighted, it will in a predetermined time be discharged at the deliveryends of the rollers.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is as follows:

In a corn-husker, a pair of reversely-driven husking-rollers providedone with a right and the other with a left thread spiral groove and boththereof having projecting huskingpegs, and cooperating peg-seats, whichseats are located between said grooves and are in dependent thereof,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES G. BILLINGS.

Witnesses:

A. J. TIBBETTs, Mrs. A. J. TIBBETTS.

IIO

